Color: Body gray brown above, paler below; fins slightly darker than back; area about and above gill slits darkened, as is a patch above eye and extending back to surround spiracle.

Body elongate and slightly compressed; dermal denticles of back widely separated and not overlapping, low-crowned, thorn-like in young but broader in adults, with low ridges running the length of the crown and a short cusp on their posterior edges. Snout pointed and moderately long, greater than mouth width but not as long as distance from mouth to pectoral fin origins. Teeth differing in upper and lower jaws, uppers much smaller, relatively broad and bladelike, with low oblique cusps and no cusplets; lowers large, compressed, bladelike, with a single oblique cusp, no cusplets, a deeply notched outer edge, and serrations in adults. A short, strong spine with lateral grooves on anterior edges of both dorsal fins; first dorsal relatively high and short, second dorsal very small, its height half height of first or less, its spine origin behind rear tips of pelvic fins; inner corners of pectoral fins greatly attenuated, produced as narrow, pointed lobes reaching past the first dorsal spine, their inner margins greater than distance from second dorsal spine to upper caudal origin; caudal fin with a strong subterminal notch. Caudal peduncle without dermal keels or precaudal pits.

Dioecious, internal (oviduct) fertilization, internal fertilization. Ovoviviparous, embryos feed solely on yolk. Number of young 2 per litter; size at birth about 31 to 37 cm; born at 35 cm TL. Distinct pairing with embrace.

Pillai, PKM and Augustine, SK (2000) A code list of common marine living resources of the Indian seas CMFRI Special Publication No.12 CMFRI 1-115 Available at - eprints.cmfri.org.in/3975/1/Special_Publication_No_12_Revised.pdf